


A Chance to Heal

by The-Winter-Maximoff (kindersuprisefics)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Also there's some really angsty stucky in this, Angst, Even tho I confirmed that Zemo does find T'challa attractive, I know I'm tagging this as Z'challa but they aren't together in this, Im sorry for tagging them but it's there ok, Im team "he said beautiful not dutiful", M/M, also I'm thinking making this multi chaptered, attempted suicide, like just adding all the future oneshots as chapters?, maybe not who knows, this also sets up that they might appear again, you know for conflict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 21:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7006894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindersuprisefics/pseuds/The-Winter-Maximoff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Everyone deserves a chance to heal, no matter what their past is." </p>
<p>T'challa makes a huge decision, impacting another man's life for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Chance to Heal

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I'm not obsessed with these two. 
> 
> Also some side stucky! Even though it's very angsty. 
> 
> From this fic on I'll be writing the progression of T'challa and Zemo's relationship all the way up to my current fics. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

It was all over now. 

He looks out at vast white horizon, knowing this would be where it ends. This would be the last thing he sees. He didn't even spare a glance at the man next to him. 

The Black Panther, T’challa, King of Wakanda. It didn't matter who he was, nothing mattered anymore. Zemo was ready to die. He had been waiting for this moment since he had held his son’s dead body in his arms. 

“I almost killed the wrong man.” 

“Hardly an innocent one.”   
Zemo blinks, a little surprised he had replied at all. He doesn't look back, even if he's slightly curious. The Black Panther had a soothing voice. 

“Was it worth it? To see them tear each other apart?” T’challa asks him, and suddenly Zemo is wondering if he was looking at him in disgust. 

He wasn’t sure of the emotion in the other man’s voice, but he understood him enough to have an idea of what he was thinking. Or at least Zemo thought he did. As far as the Sokovian man was concerned, T’challa was just another man who had lost someone. It made Zemo think about his own father. 

“My father lived outside the city. We thought we would be safe there.”  
He smiles, remembering the drive to his fathers house, seeing his son’s expression in his mind, “My son was excited, he could see the Ironman from the car window.” He thinks of how worried she was the whole time, and how much he reassured her.   
“I told my wife, ‘Don't worry, they're fighting in the city. We’re miles from harm.’”

Zemo closes his eyes, swallowing heavily upon feeling that familiar heaviness in his chest. But Zemo was not about to cry in front of this man who would soon be watching him die. 

“When the dust cleared, and the screaming stopped, it took me two days until I found their bodies....and my father, still holding my wife and son in his arms…” 

T’challa was silent the whole time, listening, waiting, understanding. What Zemo did was wrong, but T’challa couldn't help but sympathize. 

“And the Avengers? They went home.” Zemo continued, resentment and bitterness in his voice, “I knew I couldn't kill them. Men more powerful than me have tried…but if I could get them to kill each other……” 

There's a small window of silence between them. Zemo could hear T’challa shift slightly from where he stood. He couldn't stop himself from looking at him, and suddenly he felt his heart drop. It was sickening feeling, and Zemo assumed it was because he was now looking at the man who's father he killed only a short time ago. He had cause this man the same pain he was going through. He quickly looks away from him, he could still feel T’challa’s gaze on him, it sent a chill down his spine. 

“I'm sorry about your father….he seemed a good man….” 

He couldn't help himself again, a spares another glance from the corner of his eye, and his words slip without realization, “with a beautiful son.” 

That caught both of them off guard, but for Zemo it was easy to brush off the overwhelming embarrassment, he was going to die anyway. 

He shifts the gun in his hand, T’challa notices it too, snapping him out of the shocked silence, bringing him back to their current situation. 

“Vengeance has consumed you. 

A flash of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers crosses his mind.   
“It's consuming them.”

He realizes now the look in Zemo’s eyes, all the pain and the hurt, it was a sight familiar to him, a look he had seen in his own eyes. 

Suddenly T’challa wasn't angry anymore, the hate he once felt towards Zemo, the hate he had built up from his father’s death, was gone.   
Now it was replaced with the need for something else. 

“I'm done letting it consume me.” He lets the claws from his suit retract, “Justice will come soon enough.” 

 

Zemo closes his eyes again, ready to finally accept his fate. His hand clenches around the gun, finger ready to pull the trigger. 

“Tell that to the dead.” 

 

He wasn't sure what to expect honestly. Wether or not there would be pain never crossed his mind. He didn't know if his life would flash before his eyes. 

But where eternal nothingness should have come, there was nothing. 

Zemo opens his eyes, a feeling of dread washing over him. He was on his back, laying on top of someone, strong arms wrapped around him. 

The Black Panther has immobilized him. Taking away his only escape. 

Zemo isn't sure how to react. Should he scream? Fight? Cry? 

No, instead he just stays like that, his hands move up out of instinct to grasp onto T’challa’s arms, even though he wasn't being choked. Oddly though, he almost felt comfortable like this. 

They continue like this for a little while, T’challa isn't sure if he's waiting for Zemo to calm down or for his own nerves to settle. Either way, they wait, and then T’challa gets up, pulling up the other man with him. To his surprise Zemo doesn't fight back, his eyes look empty. T’challa wonders if maybe a part of him died the moment he pulled that trigger, even with him blocking the bullet. 

He quickly takes him to the small jet he had taken there. He looks back for a small second, contemplating if he should seek out the outcome of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. As well as the man he was once ready to kill. 

‘Forgive me Bucky Barnes.’ The young king thinks with once fleeting glance. Only then does he decide that it was up to them to solve their difference. His interference would do nothing to help him. Plus someone had to deal with Zemo, T’challa couldn't just leave him for even a second.

He grabs something out of the jet to bind Zemo. They make eye contact while he's strapping his arms. There's a flash of strong emotions in the Sokovian man’s deep brown, doe like eyes. Something that makes T’challa’s chest tighten, he feels uneasy. 

 

There's a small compartment behind the pilot seat in the small jet for storing large cargo. That's where Zemo stays for the trip back to what ever prison awaited him. He's curled up on his side, being that was the only way he really fit back there. 

It's disturbingly silent, not that either of them had anything to say. T’challa was too lost in thought anyways. His mind was racing. Thinking hard on where he would go from here. 

He would give Zemo over to the authorities, then return home and grieve for his father and take over as King. Not to mention he was certain after what happened between the avengers that Steve Rogers would be needed help in his knew state of being a fugitive. 

And T’challa would offer him help. It was something he had decided upon learning that Bucky was innocent. Knowing now that the man was a victim, he wanted to make things right.  
This is what he writes in his message, sending it directly to the quinjet. He hopes they'll get his offer of help. They'll be needing it. 

Still, something felt wrong, but he couldn't figure it out. He still didn't feel the sense of relief he expected, as if this conflict was yet to be truly over. 

 

 

Zemo wasn't surprised to find out that he was being taken back to the prison he had triggered the Winter Soldier in, not to mention the exact same type of cell was awaiting him. He couldn't help but glance over at T’challa, who was now speaking with Everett K. Ross, wondering if this was the last time he would ever see the Black Panther ever again. 

He could feel a hint of resentment towards him, the hate boiling in him from having his only chance taken from him. Zemo wanted to die. He didn't want to be here, to be alive anymore. He was mad that T’challa took his only escape from the pain away from him.   
And now he was leaving, going home while he rotted in this cell, he probably would never even think of him again after this moment. 

If only Zemo knew how much strength it took for T'challa to keep walking without looking back. 

 

The day didn't end there for T’challa though. Luckily for him while he was in the jet he had gotten a reply from Steve, who accepted his invitation to Wakanda. 

He lets his personal guards know to expect them, not wanting any harm to come to his guests, but also to keep their whereabouts a secret from the rest of the world. 

Steve and Bucky were there waiting for him once he arrived, and T’challa immediately apologizes to Bucky upon seeing the man, seeing how beat up and tired they both looked, and even more horrified at the state of Bucky’s arm. 

T’challa has them taken care of, medical experts patching them up, and other specialists go to work at mending Bucky’s shoulder. He was surprised when to hear the that he didn't want a replacement for his arm. Instead, what Bucky asked for was even more shocking. Even to Steve Rogers. 

T’challa pitied the desperate and pained look on Steve Roger’s face, as if the man were silently pleading with Bucky to change his mind. It's only obvious from their exchanges that these two men are in love. The way they communicate with just their eyes and little touches. T’challa wonders what it must be like to love someone so much. As far as he was concerned he was never going to find something like that.

“Buck….are you sure about this?” Steve asks, sadness obvious in his voice. 

Bucky smiles at his lover tiredly, squeezing his hand and nodding. 

“I can't trust my own mind Steve. I need to get out what ever hydra put in my head before I can come back.” Bucky was trying so hard to reassure Steve, it was heart breaking. “It won't be forever, Steve. You know that right?” 

Steve sighs, and Bucky looks to T’challa as if asking for some kind of back up. 

“Yes, I can also assure that it won't take long for my people to fix what hydra did to him.” He says reassuringly. It was saddening to separate these two knowing how long they had been separated already, but it was too late now. He had promised Bucky that he would help him in any way he could. And this is what Bucky wanted. 

The cryo tube waits near them. For Bucky, it means hope, but for Steve, it means loneliness. 

“I’ll wait for you.” Steve whispers, his voice cracks slightly. Bucky immediately goes to embrace him, his heart breaking knowing he was making his boyfriend so sad.   
“I know you will, punk.” He says in light hearted yet sad voice, trying to keep himself from crying, “but you can't stay here forever. Sam and the others are waiting for you, you have to go get them, Steve.” 

Steve’s holding onto Bucky tightly, swallowing back tears and nodding quickly, trying to hide how frustrated he was with their current situation. 

T’challa almost feels as if he was intruding on such a touching moment.   
But then Bucky lets go of Steve and turn to him with a grateful smile. 

“Thank you for doing this.” 

“Of course, everyone deserves the chance to heal, no matter what their past was.” He replies with a nod, “That and this is the least I can do after trying to kill you.” 

The three of them laugh, as if it were already years ago that everything had happened. 

 

It's a sad goodbye between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Even if they both know it wouldn't be forever. 

Steve decides he needs to leave for the raft immediately, knowing that his friends were probably suffering in there waiting for him. 

T’challa walks him out, reminding Steve that he was always welcome to come and visit Bucky, and that he would keep him updated with what ever progress they made with helping him. 

 

That night T’challa is kept up by his thoughts, tossing and turning in his big empty bed. Something just feels wrong, like he had forgotten about something. 

‘Everyone deserves a chance to heal.’ 

His words wouldn’t stop echoing in his head. 

‘No matter what their past was.’ 

He tries to shake it away, he couldn't wrap his mind around why that was bugging him. But when he closed his eyes, all he could see were a pair of deep brown, doe like eyes, looking at him with broken and pained emotions. 

He understands now. 

He grabs his phone. 

“Yes, hello. Forgive me for waking you so late, but I have a very important favor to ask you.” 

 

 

Zemo didn't sleep the first night in the cell, and he was pretty sure he'd never be able to. Even with the succession of his mission, he was unable to find any peace what so ever, but then he's surprised the moment the door ahead of him opens. 

“Well isn't this your lucky day?” 

Zemo stares in confusion at Everett Ross, who was standing to the side of the room as a few large guards retrieved Zemo from his cell. 

“You're being transferred.” 

Zemo’s eyes widen in bewilderment, almost unable to find is voice in amidst of all the shock. 

“T-to where?!” 

“To Wakanda.” 

 

T’challa finds himself pacing slightly as he awaited his “guest”s arrival. 

It was hard to keep this so under wraps, but given the current situation of everything he had an easy excuse. Why wouldn't the Black Panther want the man who killed his father in a Wakandan Prison? As far as the Avengers would ever know, Zemo was being tortured for the rest of his pitiful life. 

But that's not why he was being transferred there. 

 

“Your highness, Everett Ross is here with you're…’delivery’.” His assistant comes in to tell him, she being one of the few he trusted enough with details on the matter. T’challa exhales in relief at the news. He followed her out, trying not to seem as nervous as he really was. 

Ross was waiting in the next room, he looked a bit unnerved by the King’s request, but thankfully he seemed to trust him enough. 

“He's already been transferred to the cell you prepared downstairs.” 

T’challa nods, “Thank you.” 

“Are you sure about this?” 

“Yes. I am sure.” 

 

Zemo stares at the wall in front of him. The fact he was in Wakanda could only mean one thing, the Black Panther has finally decided to kill him. A part of Zemo was almost excited. Finally he could rest, he wouldn't have to live any longer in this god forsaken world. 

That still didn't keep him from jumping at the sound of someone entering the room, his heart almost stops upon seeing T’challa walk in, he tells his guards to wait outside for him. 

Zemo looks at him unimpressed, as if challenging him to hurry up and kill him. 

“Did they tell you why you are here?” 

“No.”

T’challa nods, sitting in a chair that was across from Zemo, who had cuffs on his wrists and ankles and was currently sitting on a bed. Their eyes are locked onto one another's, there's a long silence between them. Zemo is the first to look away, directing his gaze to the floor. 

“Aren't you going to kill me already?” 

T’challa looks at him, taken back by this statement. He hadn't even thought about what Zemo could possibly think about this, it must have seemed ominous to him. T’challa shakes his head, “No, you are not here to die.” 

Now it's Zemo's turn to looked shocked, yet at the same time he looked mad. 

“What?! Why not?! What do you want with me?!” He asks, frustrated with such an unwanted turn of events, “what could possibly be keeping you from killing the man who murdered your father?!”

T’challa tilts his head in thought. He had expected the possibility of anger from Zemo. This was good, he was expressing emotions, giving him a better idea on how to help him. 

“I'm giving you an opportunity.” He tells him simply, ignoring how exasperated and annoyed Zemo looked. 

“To do what exactly?” Zemo snaps, too upset to really consider the offer. 

 

“To heal.”


End file.
